A highway construction worker in Germany accidentally struck an unexploded World War II bomb, causing an explosion which killed him and wrecked several passing cars.

A cutting machine lies wrecked by the side of the A3 motorway next to a small crater left by the explosion.
A World War II bomb has exploded during construction work on a German highway, killing one worker and injuring several motorists who were driving past, police said.

The worker had been cutting through the road surface near the south-western town of Aschaffenburg when his machine struck the bomb and triggered it. Police said they weren't sure yet what type of bomb it was. "The explosion seems to have been too small for it to have been an aircraft bomb," a police spokesman said.

The A3 Autobahn linking the cities of Frankfurt and Würzburg has been blocked in both directions.

More than 60 years since the end of World War II, construction workers still frequently unearth unexploded bombs .................